You Know You're a Speechie When...

You know you're a speechie when...

1. You realize that you are apart of the unofficial fraternity of the coolest geeks on the planet.
2. You discover that the skills you've acquired have a potential shelf life of a thousand lifetimes.
3. You unconsciously begin to speak with a conviction that few have and find yourself no longer taking pleasure in trivial conversation.
4. You realize that the new found eloquence of your mind and your mouth will buy you more opportunity than all the money you can earn in the thousand life times of your skill set's shelf life combined.
5. You find your mind open and your heart receptive to all people, most concepts, more understanding, a little criticism, fewer judgments, and no tolerance policies for living in mediocrity.

This is how you know that you are a philosopher of the common era.

A lover of knowledge with an incessant thirst for wisdom: The discernment to know how and when to apply that knowledge to actions resulting in a life of purpose.

These are the tell tale signs of the movers and shakers

The civilly disobedient rule breakers

The individuals you put on your "people to watch" lists

The few that witness the awesome and instead of saying "I wish", make note of their awe stricken state, and let their hearts make manifest future success with a resounding, "I'll do that too one day."

An Unexpected Lesson, A Satisfying Day

With each day I attempt to glean a bit of wisdom or knowledge from something that happened in order to make it a day that I deem worthwhile. I want to take something away from all of my experiences and on days when I do not feel I've succeeded I feel as though I've wasted 24 hours of my precious, God given time. I almost consider days like this sinful because I only have a little time and I cannot get it back when wasted. 
Today was one of those wasted days until around 7 pm. I got a call from a friend asking a small favor. After courtesies I asked how she was doing and the conversation turned to talk of boredom and opportunity. She, being from the city, was incredibly bored with our lackluster surroundings. I was the opportunist. The city in which we currently live is small and has the cultural diversity of a sinkhole, but where there is lack of eventfulness and stimulation, opportunity arises. In cities like Chicago, there is incredible opportunity for entertainment and exchange/interaction of ideas. There is always mental stimulation. When that is taken away, there is a door opened that breathes whispers of change and chance for creation. Where there is lack, there is an occasion worth taking advantage of to fill a void with one's own ideas without competition or comparison. Just as in terrestrial drought, starvation of the mind is debilitating and can have long lasting side effects. Filling such a void through creative means not only makes for a much needed metaphysical precipitation, but it demands an instigation of novel and unique culture if the creative solution can remain in an atmosphere of maintenance. In such a case, the drought becomes insignificant in the wake of earnest minds bringing their own precipitation to water the sprouting idea.
 Having grown up in cultural desolation, I realized this truth beforehand, but what I gleaned from her contribution was that my depravity had become a pathogen of thought. It consumed the minds of the vast majority of people I interacted with and it had been in my system long enough to blind me. I attempt to be open and non-judgmental but my environment forbade me from recuperating from my disease. I felt convicted, realizing that I had committed a crime which most in my environment share guilt for. I so wish that my judgment had not been quick. She reminded me to be careful. She reminded me of something that I've said myself. Most people do the best they can with what they've been given: the actions they take, just manifestations of their personality and learned responses to external stimuli. Whether those responses are right or wrong is of little importance, the significance lies in the fact that most people feel that they have to behave in that certain way, they consciously or unconsciously expect a particular outcome because of their action, and they either believe they are correct in their justification without a shadow of doubt, or they see no other options. 
This reality hit me hard enough to take me aback and make my consciousness aware of my hypocrisy. I, who tell others not to judge, passed judgment too quickly and laughed at those who more than likely are doing the best they know how with the hand they've been dealt. Instead of ridicule, my reaction should have been to ask why. 
Why did they do what they did and what has happened in their lives to teach them that their rationale was sound? Ignorance is never a laughable subject in any context. React with intelligence and refrain from jest. Educate instead with the light of perspective and knowledge passed their ignorance taking into consideration that someone loved you enough to educate you in the same way. Let not knowledge be confused with intellect and become a denominator of people into groups of exclusivity. Erase your boundaries and realize that everyone has something that THEY can teach YOU.

I Think It's Funny

Life sometimes hands you an amalgamation of situations and you honestly have to sit back and reevaluate them with that 20/20 hindsight thing, that everyone desperately wishes were clairvoyance, and laugh. 

So, here's the beginning of a list of things (mostly events) that in retrospect make me laugh:

The final weeks of my junior year, I finally figured out that the chant (Call) P-I-R (Response) A-T-E together spells P-I-R-A-T-E lol. Took me 3 years to figure that out for some reason. I always thought that the PIR part of the chant stood for performance-in-the-round, a term that any self respecting speechie in the state of Illinois would recognize at the drop of a hat. (For those non speechies who are reading this, Performance-in-the-round is an IHSA group event performed at state series competition alongside the 14 Individual Events categories.)

Speaking of 14, the day before my 14th birthday my mother almost felt the compulsion to kill me :) I, being the occasionally impulsive person that I am, decided that it would be ok to disappear for about an hour without telling anyone that I was leaving the house. Of course this decision did not sit well with my parents. My mother was on the verge of calling the police when she called my dad at work. My  dad, being the ridiculously awesome person he is, advised my mom to check at my neighbor's house before calling the police. Of course that's where I was. I enjoy the conversations I have with my neighbors, what can I say?! Anyway, as I was walking out of my neighbor's front door exchanging final guffaws and chuckles with my friends , my mother was barreling across the street in a state of panic that can only be described as a justified, maternal worry induced panic attack from hell seeing as she had been clueless to my location for the passed hour or so. Being a good mother, she quickly assumed the ridiculous worst case scenario, that I was of course dead or kidnapped, to be the ONLY alternatives to my not being at my neighbor's house. Thus, the fact that she was about to go into a stress induced coma was completely reasonable. When our eyes met, I saw  her face soften. Soon after that, whatever that soft thing behind her eyes was snapped was snapped in half by a warmongering, bloodthirsty, she-hulk commando and  the death grimace of a mother feeling her 3 days of labor might all be in vain soon reared it's ugly head. I knew that my life was in danger. She lunged at me with the force of a 1000 remembered labor contractions propelling her hands straight at my head. I took of with the force of a thousand screaming little girls propelling me towards my room, where I could lock the door. On the way to my room I cut my legs in the thorn bush I ran through, but I made it in one piece. After my dad got home my parents isolated themselves in their room for the rest of the night. They were so mad they barely spoke to me. They were angry mostly because I had scared them so badly. I can't blame them for withholding my presents from me on my birthday or not holding back as much as they usually did for my birthday wake up spanking hahaha. I definitely learned my lesson.

Squirrel Hockey is probably one of the most intense sports unknown to most of mankind haha. A squirrel managed to break into our house one day through our chimney. He got the shock of his life  when my parents, my aunt and I resorted to trying to incrementally shoo the squirrel out the door by passing it from one person with a broom and or billiards cue stick to another like a hockey puck. We didn't succeed. The squirrel displayed his final act of defiance after over an hour of chasing by climbing up into the coils of our refrigerator and refusing to move. Feeling defeated, my mom, my aunt and I decided to give up. Then my dad picked up the refrigerator and put it outside for the night for the squirrel to take his time in climbing out triumphant.

These are just a few of the many humorous tales in the life and times of Josh Magee. More to come soon. 

America the Beautiful part 1/50

Traveling is like a good song on a bad day. 


I love driving through all of the states, watching how the land changes,


Feeling effervescent about making the transition of attitude between each one.

I haven't been to many out of the fifty, but each one has it's own separate personality yet and still they all have a subtle continuity that weaves them all together into the tapestry that is this country.


 I plan to visit every single one of them eventually. It may take me quite awhile to finish this series seeing as I plan on writing about all 50 states but eventually. It'll happen.


Circumstance has lead me to Wisconsin and I must comment on my perception of her persona. 


Wisconsin is so..... sweet.
Sweet,


Sweet like,


 The tiniest drop of honey on your tongue,


Like a cup of milk in the morning,


Like having a glass of water and feeling it travel all the way down and settle in your stomach, 


When your body is that fresh linen out of the dryer warm and the water is sooooooooo cool;


 Not ice cold, but just cool enough that your breath condenses and floats out of the glass while you drink.


There must grow fields of red poppies on the far side of some hill I couldn't see over 


Or they must be scattered throughout all the gardens there, 


Hidden among the brightest flowers so as no one will notice their hypnotic aura.


Wisconsin greets you kindly with a graceful smile and an extended hand. 


Her skin is soft and cool to the touch.


She glows with a translucence that allows one to observe her apparent vitality and undying loyalty to those who choose to befriend her.


I plan on visiting her often in the future.

Waking from a Lucidity Once Welcomed

I haven't posted in quite awhile so I figured now would be the time. I don't know why I haven't blogged in so long. I definitely have a lot to share. This semester has started of with quite a bit of a bang and it's only the end of the second week of school haha. I originally wasn't going to be able to go to school this semester. Unforeseen circumstances depleted my college money that would've paid for my summer classes, and without having my summer classes paid off, I wasn't eligible for Fall registration. I was beginning to lose hope that things would work out and I would have to find a job to work through fall semester at least. At the last minute, God made a way through some very gracious family members. I explained my situation and before I could finish telling them my aunt stopped me and asked me if it was for my school tuition. That was all my uncle and aunt needed to know and they wrote me a check for the full amount! My gratitude to them is immense and I'm planning a very nice surprise for them to say thank you. I really can't say it enough for what they did. To just say "here you go" without question is just such an amazing testament of their character and it was an incredible blessing for me. 


I know that I'm supposed to be in school this semester. The things that I'm learning are all too important to my future plans and maturity. I plan on studying abroad next semester and 3 of my classes just happen to be history classes that focus on culture. They are absolutely invaluable. The things that I'm going to be learning about will help to broaden my perspective immensely. Already, I'm starting to think about why people do the things they do differently and I'm realizing just how different the culture I grew up in is from the majority of all the other cultures in the world. I'm starting to understand the rationalization behind practices and beliefs that I disagree with. I still disagree with them, but I'm beginning to understand why now. These classes have opened up a new arena of critical thought for me that will be a great aid in my adventures adjusting to culture overseas.


 Through my studies, my opinions are slowly becoming my own. I realize that I've been indoctrinated with certain beliefs since before preschool. I realize that my opinions and biases have been influenced, much more than I realized, by outside forces that I didn't know had such a profound impact on my thought process. I realize now that a much greater proportion of my personal biases were based in blind faith, comfort, or ignorance. Ignorance being the most important out of the series. My college education has definitively been a journey that validates Einstein's quip, "Education is the progressive realization of our ignorance." More and more I am being hit with the harsh reality of just how  much knowledge I lack, how little exposure to world culture I've had, how immature I really am. It's such a big pill to swallow. I hope and pray to God that I never forget the lessons I'm learning. I have so much to learn and such little time in which to do it. A lifetime just isn't enough. Though willing, I am still lost. Though eager, I am still so unsure of myself. 


How does one go about achieving self-actualization, becoming the best version of oneself that there can be? How do I  find a way to seek out all that which would tarnish my soul and then go about attempting to root out those weaknesses? I feel so unprepared to go out into the world and appreciate what it has to offer me. This is by no fault of my teachers and influences, but mine. My parasitic friendship with American apathy is coming to a close, but so much later than I feel it should be. I feel so slight and insignificant sometimes, with greater frequency as of late. I wonder if my heightened state of awareness will warrant any good... I feel like I'm taking one more class on top of the 19 credit hours I'm already committed to. I wake up every morning and after saying a quick "Good Morning" to  God, I feel as if his reply is "Good morning Joshua, welcome to Reality Check 101. Brace yourself quickly, we have a lot to cover today."

To Those that Struggle

To those that struggle with issues they have been afraid to come out of or acknowledge, now is the best time to go ahead and come out. 
Saving what you can do today for tomorrow is just justification for your fear. 
Your apprehension is your perpetual downfall. 
Your hidden issues do nothing but eat at your heart like tape worms. They suck out all of the things that make your life healthy and good. 
This is short but I feel like it needs to be said. To all of those like me who have struggled with this faulty human flesh, face that thing that terrifies you and rise to your potential. You hinder yourself by keeping secrets. It's just a matter of time before they come out despite your efforts or kill you. 
I don't mean just physically,
 you could kill your relationships or your goals. You could break your own spirit because you refuse to confront the skeleton in your closet that you've gotten so used to that you've learned to ignore it. 


A good example of someone who's going through the process of cleaning their closet is Demi Lovato. Her secrets were kept, her secrets came out, she was forced to deal with the fall out, the onslaught of concern and scorn for her actions, and she finally faced what she feared. She was released and now she's telling her story and trying to help others out of the same situations.
 The media is full of reminders of just how corrupted humanity is, and even then the world is a lot darker and colder than we realize. If we let it, it will fill us full of cynicism for life. I pray that Demi is in a better place and that her journey to overcome cutting, eating disorders and bipolar disorder is successful. Because of her status it will be a public journey, but that makes her success all the more important because her success is a testimony and a beacon of hope to many. 
I really do hope that even if she does fall or slip during her journey that it's just a setback and not a fatal downfall. I pray she succeeds with all my heart. I know that there are many people with success stories out there, but her's is in progress and a good example.
 If her newest album packs as much punch and evokes as much pathos as her song skyscraper, I know that it will be a wonderful encouragement to those that struggle. Listen to what she has to say and take it to heart.


To those that struggle, don't lose hope. Clean the skeletons out of your closet now, because sooner or later you'll discover that your fear of coming into light is a lot less daunting than your fear of staying in darkness.

Good advice: Girls & Guys

Girl likes Guy, Guy likes Girl.

Girl and Guy meet up in the halls of education
Awkwardness ensues as they both think of something to say
For Girl it's easy.
Being a talkative, social creature Girl has dominated the art of idle conversation
Boy, on the other hand, stares and adds the occasional "mhmm" to make sure it looks like he understands
The encounter ends as it began, in awkwardness, as they part.
After hours of learning, comes the wait...

Quite quiet and queer for both parties
Girl starves for attention from the object of her affection
She falters between busying herself with things to take her mind off of Guy and staring at her phone hoping it rings and it's Guy.
"Buzz!"
"Ahhhhhh!!!!!!"
(Girl screams, fumbles with phone)
"?!?!?!?!?Hello!?!?!?!?"

"This is the ASPCA calling. We'd like to discu...."
(Click! SSSLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!)
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(Girl screams louder as she turns her phone into a missile, hurling it into a pillow to express her frustration while simultaneously ensuring the safety of her phone and hope that Guy might still be able to call)
Guy all the while, is sitting at home wondering
"Should I text her? If she really does like me, she'll come to me...."
(Guy smirks confidently and leans back in his chair)
Early morning hours come and facebook call to Guy whose consumed in insomnia.
First news feed bulletin Guy's eyes happen upon: "Girl and 26 other friends joined the group 'You're the guy, you text me first!!!!!!!!!"
Guy notices comment left by Girl that should not be read aloud...
"Dangit!"
Guy flops on bed in frustration
(School bells)
Girl is angry after receiving no call or text
she seethes and glares while her heart screams, "MY GOD, WILL YOU PLEASE FLIRT WITH ME!!!"

A single rose and teddy bear, clad in apparel of Girl's favorite color appear from behind Guy's back
seething discontinues and a string of toothy pearls appears in reply.
Moral of the story: Guy's text first.